Southeast Minnesota Man Sentenced for International Sextortion Scheme

St. Paul, MN (KROC-AM News)- A southeast Minnesota man has been sentenced for an international sex crime conviction. 

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That’s according to a news release published on Monday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of Minnesota. Federal court documents say there were more than 60 victims in the case. 

He was indicted by a federal grand jury last January and entered a guilty plea last June. 

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The Winona County Sheriff’s Office and Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension were involved in the investigation that led to the conviction and sentencing. 

31-year-old Valentin Silva Quintana was accused of threatening, sexually manipulating and exploiting young girls between the ages of 9 and 12 through social media from April of 2022 through June of 2023. 

Federal court documents say the Winona man posed as another young girl while convincing them to send him sexually explicit photos or videos of themselves. 

Quintana then threatened to send the image or video to the victim's friends and family unless the young girls agreed to "produce additional sexually-explicit images and videos for him, according to the federal indictment. The victims resided in Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, New Zealand and other locations. 

Winona, MN Man Receives Multi-Decade Federal Prison Sentence for International Child Sextortion Scheme

He was originally charged with 13 counts of production of child pornography, one count of distribution, and one count of possession of child pornography.

Quintana entered guilty pleas to one count each of production of child pornography,  distribution of child pornography, and possession of child pornography.

Last week Quintana was sentenced to 27 years in federal prison. His term behind bars will be followed by 20 years of supervised release, the news release says.